Australian Cattle Dog Living in the Sunshine State & Exploring Beyond

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At the beginning of the month, I moved from my college residence into my first “adult” apartment. Opal and I were excited and found ourselves in a fresh new city with everything at our fingertips.

We realized, however, after a particularly fun romp in the dirt, that our previous groomer was now too far away, so I needed to find a new grooming salon that was sensitive to my dog’s fear of being groomed.

Opal is a sweet girl that became afraid of the industrial cage dryers used at many commercial salons which made leaving her for an appointment scary and stressful. Thus began my search for salons that would hand dry my dog. Off to Google! After some clicking around and a phone call here and there, I came across Metropolitan Dog Spa, which was just a short 15-minute walk from the new apartment and right next to Lake Eola.

Jessica, one of the groomers, was kind enough to answer all of my questions over the phone. Not only do they use organic products and shampoos, they only hand dry the dogs. There are no cage dryers for my dog to cower in.

“It seems to be much less stressful for them, and we take it at their pace,”

Excited, I made an appointment for that weekend.

Upon arriving on Saturday, I noticed the open feel. There was only one other dog there at the time and the space was quiet. Opal remained unphased, sniffing around the shelves as I spoke with Jessica about what I wanted to be done (Bath, ears, nail dremel…).

I handed Jessica the leash, kissed my girl on the head, and left.

I spent the 45 minutes I had alone exploring more of the city, walking around Lake Eola and taking pictures of the baby swans on the Lake. My phone rang – Opal was done! After walking back, I came back into the salon to find my dog playing with a tennis ball in the waiting area, tail wagging. The fact that Opal was allowed to hang out in the salon to decompress and play with a tennis ball after being groomed instead of waiting in a crate really seemed to make a difference for her.

Beyond just being a happy dog, Opal was also now a clean dog. She smelled good and her fur was soft to the touch. Jessica let me know that she had used a de-shedding shampoo to help get some of that dense undercoat out now that things were heating up weather wise. Opal’s nails were neat and trim too!

I picked up a clean and happy dog from the groomer that day – and for the first time, I felt like I hadn’t had to sacrifice one over the other. We’ll definitely be back!